Justice League Unlimited

At a chemistry plant, the villainous Copperhead disables a guard and the rest of the Injustice Gang enters the building behind him. Their leader, a blonde woman, has Grundy smash open the door where their newest member Tsukuri disables more guards and Shade provides cover. They are unaware that Batman is nearby – he disables Shade and Copperhead, then takes out Star Sapphire, Grundy, and Tsukuri. He disables their leader but she reveals unexpected strength and takes him out, but not before he secretly grabs her necklace.

Wonder Woman is shopping and moves an irritable male driver out of the way when Batman confronts her and tells her that the blonde woman is an Amazon, as he's analyzed the necklace and placed its origins. The Injustice Gang are holed up in an abandoned warehouse and laying out their most recent break-in plan to steal precious stones. The woman, Aresia, has to give Grundy advance pay to convince him and he falls in with her plans. Hawkgirl goes to Themyscira and a patrol spots and captures her.

At the gem exchange, the villains break in and Aresia speaks to a security camera and dares the League and the police to stop them. The villains escape in Star Sapphire's power sphere while Aresia remains behind to steal the one gem she needs. Superman intercepts her and she's strong enough to give Superman an even fight. She hits him with a gas fight that makes him ill and he collapses, and then she escapes past the police. Wonder Woman is waiting for her outside and they recognize each other, and Aresia flees when Wonder Woman goes to Superman's aid.

Flash and Green Lantern arrive and search the scene and Green Lantern finds powder traces. On Themyscira, Hawkgirl is brought before Hippolyta, who initially believes she's responsible for the theft of their gold. Hawkgirl shows her the necklace which Hippolyta recognizes, and the two of them go to a tower where Aresia was held. She's gone, of course, and Hippolyta reveals Aresia was a World War II survivor from Germany. When they fled the country, their ship was raided by pirates then sunk. Aresia was the only survivor and washed ashore on Themyscira where the Amazons adopted her and endowed her with their strength. Hawkgirl finds a chest containing maps from the real world.

J'onn isn't having much luck tending to Superman, and Green Lantern and Flash collapse after arriving at the Watchtower. Aresia shatters the gems from the exchange and mixes them into her potion. When the villains confront her, Aresia uses a gas bomb which takes out the male members. Batman and Hawkgirl are flying back when they get word of emergencies throughout Metropolis. They arrive to find that all the males are collapsing of the same plague the male Leaguers have.

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Solomon Grundy

Solomon Grundy (first appearance - All-American Comics #61 - October 1944 - created by Alfred Bester and Paul Reinman) is Cyrus Gold, a miser who was murdered in Slaughter Swamp outside Gotham City and dumped into the muck. Through unknown (presumably mystical) means he was resurrected as a pale-skinned behemoth who wandered across some gangsters who gave him the name "Solomon Grundy" (since he was "Born on a Monday" - these were very literate gangsters). They used him as their enforcer and he battled the Golden Age Green Lantern. Over the years Solomon Grundy has fought the entire JSA, Superman, Batman, and the new-age Starman. His powers and personality have varied over the years and it was recently revealed that each time Grundy dies and comes back (not being truly dead), he comes back as a different aspect of Cyrus Gold's personality. Thus sometimes he is "good," sometimes (more often) "evil," and sometimes just dumb and confused. It's also been determined he is a flawed plant or earth elemental, ala Swamp Thing. This is the first time he appears in the WB animated universe and his origin differs from the comics in several aspects.

The Shade

The Shade (first appearance Flash Comics vol. 1 #35 - November 1942) showed up to oppose the Golden Age Flash. An apparently normal human, the Shade sported a skin-tight black outfit, a top hat, and an ebony cane that projected darkness and could be put to a wide variety of uses. He teamed up with a number of Golden Age villains but little was revealed of his origins. In recent years it has been revealed he is an amnesiac immortal named Richard Swift who was found by the Ludlow family in early 1800 London. The Ludlows tried to kill him and the Shade wielded his darkness powers to stop them, setting off a century-long grudge. The Shade has since sought to relieve his ennui by pitting himself against superheroes and can be ruthless when the situation demands it, but he considers himself a "hero" of sorts and often helps as much as hinders various superheroes. This is his first appearance in the WB animated universe, and how much this Shade's origins match those of the comic book version have yet to be revealed.

Star Sapphire

There was originally a Golden Age Star Sapphire (All-Flash Comics #32, December/January 1947-48) who made a few brief appearances. She served as the inspiration in the comics for the Silver Age Star Sapphire (first appearance Green Lantern 2nd series #16 - October 1962) who was created by John Broome and Gil Kane, and was the chosen queen of the Zamorans, a race of immortal women who for some odd reason selected a mortal woman to be their ruler (more as a figurehead then anything). They chose Carol Ferris, the boss and Lois Lane-stand-in for the Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. Hijinks ensued since Ferris was infatuated with Green Lantern (but couldn't stand Hal Jordan) and the Zamorans found the whole hero-adoring woman thing rather nauseating (as well they should). They telepathically forced her to seek out Green Lantern and defeat him using her superpowered Sapphire gem to defeat the hero. She initially proved triumphant but GL beat her and the Zamorans wiped her memory. But she returned on a number of occasions to fight Green Lantern. To confuse matters even further, later a second Star Sapphire showed up in the Secret Society of Super-Villains comic. She was Camille/Debbie Darnell (with a on-again/off-again French accent) and later revealed (in a letter column in Justice League #174) to be Remoni-Notra, an alien from Pandina who was chosen as the successor to Carol Ferris and came to Earth to take Carol Ferris' gem. She was never particularly villainous and seems to have disappeared/been forgotten by DC. The origin of the Star Sapphire we see here probably bears little relation to either of these (one hopes!), and this is her first appearance in the WB animated universe.

Copperhead

Copperhead (first appearance Brave & The Bold #78 - June-July 1968) is a thief of unknown origins who was captured by Batman and Batgirl, and taught himself tantric exercises that allowed him to stretch his body. He was later given a suit that further expanded his abilities as an incentive to join the Secret Society of Super-Villains (the suit was secretly provided by Darkseid). Copperhead drifted in and out of the criminal fraternity for years until he was approached by the demon Neron, who traded him his soul in return for enhanced powers. Copperhead became a literal "snakeman" with the powers he had originally plus enhanced poison and inherent fangs. As of September 2004 he was "killed" by the newest Manhunter, but given the track record of DC villains, it's unlikely he's dead and gone for good. This is his first appearance in the WB animated universe.

The Injustice Gang

The Shade and Solomon Grundy were members of the original Injustice Society of the World, a group that fought the Justice Society. Star Sapphire and Copperhead were members of the Secret Society of Super-Villains. Solomon Grundy was also a member of the Legion of Doom in the old Superfriends cartoon. Tsukuri and Aresia appear to be original creations.